Wire forming machinery of the type used to manufacture springs and spring assemblies from steel wire, such as innersprings made of interconnected spring coils for use in mattresses and furniture, includes the primary components or an individual coil spring formation machine, also referred to as a “coiler”, an individual spring or coil transfer mechanism that removes the springs from the coiler, a conveyor for transporting a series of springs away from the coiler, and an assembler which operates to engage and move a plurality of springs into an array wherein the springs are connected together to form an innerspring assembly. Coilers can be configured to produce different types of generally helical coil bodies having multiple turns of wire with predetermined diameter and pitch, and punch forming stations at each end of the coil body to form different types of ends generally perpendicular to the helical body. The coils are removed from the coder by an arm such as a geneva arm after a final head forming station and annealing station by electrical current. The orientation of the coil is determined by the point at which it is engaged by the geneva arm and any reorientation caused by motion of the arm and work stations prior to delivering the coil to the conveyor.
Newly developed innerspring assemblies, such as those disclosed in commonly owned pending patent applications, have arrangements of interconnected coils which have varying orientations with respect to a longitudinal axis of the coil. For example, the opposing heads on the coils can be identical or non-identical, and even where identical can be 180 degrees out of phase by connection at radially opposite points to the helical coil head or body. These new types of innerspring assemblies require that coils in specified locations of a matrix of coils that make up the innerspring have specific orientations as defined by the radial positions of the coil heads in a common plane of the innerspring. Some newer innerspring manufacturing machinery is capable of producing different patterns of varying spring orientation in an innerspring, but older existing equipment is not.